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RIVEN

Cetus regards us with ancient, hungry eyes, his jaws opening to reveal teeth like shattered planets.

When he speaks, his voice isn’t a sound. It’s a feeling. A vibration through the air, through our bones, and through the very threads of fate.

Trespassers, he rumbles. You’ve come to steal what is not yours.

Sapphire steps forward, lifting her chin, ready to fight this creature that could crush her in a single second.

“We’re here for the Star Disc,” she says, and the wind curls around her, responding to her awe-inspiring power, her breathtaking defiance, and her remarkable refusal to bend. “Because I’m star touched, chosen by Celeste herself. She forged the Disc for me. It’s mine.”

Cetus laughs, and stardust swirls around his massive form as his body coils tighter, preparing to strike.

Many claim the blessing of the gods, he rumbles. Few prove worthy.

I step closer to Sapphire, sword ready, frost crawling along its blade as I stare down Cetus with a look that could shatter ice.

“We faced the trials,” I say sharply. “We endured the visions. We earned the right to?—”

Earned? Cetus interrupts. Nothing is earned here, in the deepest part of the Cosmos. Everything is tested, and nearly every test is failed.

My grip tightens on my sword. Of course he’s not going to make this easy. But I don’t care. Whatever twisted test he throws at us, I’ll take it.

For Sapphire, I can take anything.

Her dagger shakes, but her stance remains firm.

“Then tell us how to prove it,” she says, and here in the Tides, she’s so beautifully determined that it takes my breath away.

I wish I could freeze this moment and live in it forever. Because as much as I try to push it away, I have a sinking feeling that we’re about to be shattered beyond repair. And considering how broken we already are, that’s saying a lot.

But as powerful as I am, I can’t freeze time.

All I can do is stand here and watch as Cetus grins, the expression terrifying and monstrous.

Then, he lunges at me.

He’s fast, but not fast enough. Because I meet his attack in an instant, my sword slicing upward, cutting deep into his arm.

Sapphire screams and doubles over, clutching her side.

When she lifts her hand, her fingers are slick with blood—from a wound identical to the one I just inflicted on Cetus.

Love is destruction, Cetus hisses, his voice slithering into my mind. You will always destroy each other, no matter how hard you try to protect her.

No, I think, ice flooding my veins as horror sinks in.

I want to tear this monster apart. I want to watch him bleed, collapse, and die.

But I can’t. Because my strike wounded Sapphire, too. She bled for my attack just as much as he did.

She lifts her head slowly, her brilliant blue eyes meeting mine.

“—” she starts, but there’s no time.

Cetus lunges again, straight toward her.

She blasts a wave of water that hits the monster with staggering force, sending him reeling.

At the same time, agony rips through my ribs. I hit the ground hard, pain racing through me, stealing the breath from my lungs.

Cetus just laughs. It’s a sound that’s not a sound, but a pulse of something vast and cruel, vibrating through the fabric of space and time.

“No,” Sapphire whispers, understanding dawning on her face as I struggle to stand. “Every attack...”

Yes, Cetus confirms, circling us slowly. Every wound you inflict on me transfers to the other. This is the final trial—a test of devotion to see which one of you loves the other more.

My hands shake around the hilt of my sword. Because this is worse than anything the visions showed us. This is a nightmare brought to life—a twisted game where protecting her means hurting her.

“There has to be another way,” I say, my voice strained from the pain in my ribs that hasn’t gone away. “A loophole, or a trick. We can’t?—“

You cannot escape your fate, Cetus interrupts, lunging toward Sapphire.

For the first time in my life, I hesitate. My sword hangs mid-air, useless. Because if I strike, I’ll hurt her more. If I don’t?—

Cetus’s tail whips around, slamming into Sapphire with bone-crushing force.

She flies backward, crashing onto the ground several yards away. And for a terrifying second, she doesn’t move.

Ice explodes around my feet, surging across the black sand.

“Sapphire!” I call out to her, panic flooding my veins.

She stirs, her breath coming in short, uneven gasps, her body trembling from the impact. Blood seeps between her fingers, its crimson shadow staining her shirt and crushing my heart into dust.

She should be healing. She should be getting up and striking back.

But her healing isn’t working.

And the pain from my fall… I still feel it in my ribs. It’s throbbing under my skin, bruising me.

I’ve never had a bruise in my life.

Snapping back into focus, I rush toward her, but Cetus moves swiftly, blocking my path.

Your bodies are tethered to mine now, he rumbles, his scales rippling with starlight. Your injuries won’t heal until one of us is dead.

Realization slams into me like a death sentence as I look at Sapphire’s bloodied form. Because we’re vulnerable now—truly vulnerable. No supernatural healing. No safety net. Just flesh, blood, pain, and the crushing weight of a mortality that neither of us should ever have to experience.

She’s going to die if this continues.

And there’s only one way to stop it. At least, only one viable way.

“Kill him, Sapphire.” I step forward, sword raised, ignoring Cetus’s growl. “End this.”

She struggles upright, her face pale, her eyes blazing with anger.

Anger I hoped to never see directed at me again.

“No,” she snaps. “If I kill him, I’ll kill you, too. I won’t do that. How could you even ask me to?”

Her words whip into me, hurting worse than the bruise across my ribs.

“You hate a lot of things I do, don’t you?” I say softly, bitterness seeping into my voice.

Her expression cracks. “That’s not what I meant?—”

“It doesn’t matter. Because you’re what matters.” I exhale sharply, desperate for her to understand. “The Star Disc belongs to you. And when you’re out of this place, you’ll do incredible things with it. I know you will—I’ve always known. Even when you doubted yourself, even when you hated me, and even when I pushed you away to protect you. Throughout all of it, I knew you’d change the world.”

She freezes, anguish and fury warring across her beautiful features.

Cetus just laughs again. It’s almost like he knows that the part of me once capable of loving Sapphire the way she deserves is gone, leaving a hollow, haunted space in its wake.

How moving, the beast mocks, slithering closer to Sapphire. The Winter Prince, ready to die so you can live. But are you willing to inflict that pain on him, star touched one? Are you willing to end him to save yourself?

Every muscle in my body screams to blast him with ice, impale him with my blade, and tear him apart piece by wretched piece.

Instead, I clutch my sword so tightly that my knuckles turn bone-white, my jaw aching with the effort of holding back.

“You have to kill it, Sapphire,” I plead, my voice raw and desperate, breaking in ways I no longer care about hiding. “Do it now—fast and clean.”

She flinches, as if I struck her.

“No,” she whispers, and gods—it isn’t defiant. It’s broken. It’s a single word fractured with grief, destroying what remains of my soul.

Cetus takes the opportunity to lunge, his jaws wide, his tail whipping toward her.

At this speed, he’ll kill her instantly.

So, I leap forward, my sword slicing through the creature’s scales, icy magic erupting from the blade.

Cetus roars, the sound rattling every cell in my body. But Sapphire’s scream pierces deeper as she collapses, trembling, her hands pressed to her side, her blood seeping through her fingers.

I fall to my knees beside her, the world reduced to the crimson across my hands as I try and fail to stop the bleeding.

“Why won’t you fight?” I demand, and her eyes find mine, stormy blue and beautiful, even as the life drains from her body.

“For the same reason you won’t.” She smiles sadly, reaching up for me and tracing her finger along my cheek. It’s like she’s already accepted it, while I’m over here drowning, screaming inside my own skull.

I failed.

And she’s the one suffering for it.

Even if I tried to save her—even if I gave her my blood and forced her to drink—it wouldn’t be enough. Because as long as Cetus’s heart beats, our injuries won’t heal. Anything I give her will flow through her wounds and pour uselessly onto the cosmic sand.

“If you won’t fight, then we’ll both die here,” I choke out, cradling her face between my bloodied hands. “Because I won’t stop protecting you, Sapphire. I can’t. You know I can’t.”

So much devotion, Cetus purrs, circling us, savoring our suffering. Such willingness to sacrifice yourselves for love.

I barely hear him.

The rage is too loud. The grief is too loud. The breaking of whatever’s left of my soul is too loud.

So, I turn toward Cetus, and my magic surges, ice exploding outward in sharp, jagged spears.

“You want a sacrifice?” I snarl at him, raising my dagger. “Then fine. You’ll get your sacrifice.”

With that, I drag the blade’s tip across my forearm, cutting through flesh, through reason, and through anything left of my control.

Because if Sapphire won’t kill me… I’ll do it myself.